Married Man
by jtav
Summary: Akira would like to spend the rest of his life with Sae, but first he has to face his demons without a Persona. Rising Star verse.


_A very long time ago, someone on AO3 asked for a Saekira wedding in the Rising Star verse. I've finally come up with a suitable idea. Rising Star!Akira belongs to Japan's Catholic minority. He's not always a very good one, but it's an important part of who he is and the Catholic view of marriage is important to this fic. It seems fitting it should be posted at the end of Holy Week._

* * *

"I wish you'd marry Sae," Akira's mother said.

Akira choked on his coffee. "What? What brought this on? Weren't you the one saying she was too old for me?"

"I did, when you were in high school. But that was six years ago, and the two of you somehow seem quite happy." Her eyes narrowed, but she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I was your age once. I know what goes on on those weekend trips of yours. I know you love her. I just wish you would make it official instead of… fornicating. I'd hate for either of you to end up in the situation I was in."

"Fornicating?" Heat spread over Akira's cheeks. He'd rather face Caroline and Justine again then discuss his sex life with his mother. "Who even uses that—we're careful. No surprise kids on the way."

"Not helping." She forced a smile. "It was just a suggestion. Enjoy yourself at the awards banquet. I'll be there cheering you on."

"Thanks." But later, as he drove to Sae's apartment, his brain kept circling back to his conversation with his mother. Marry Sae. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, had wanted it almost from the moment that she had freed him from juvenile hall. But marriage? It wasn't two becoming one flesh. He wished it was. The marriage he had seen up close had been a chain binding two people together just because the girl had gotten pregnant and what would the neighbors say? It had been his father, drunk again, complaining that he never had any fun anymore. It had been his mother's medical career derailed and wondering when she thought Akira couldn't hear if she should have had that abortion.

And everyone knew that the best indicator for the kind of marriage you would have was your parents'.

It was cold even by February standards, and Akira rubbed his hands together and navigated an icy patch on the sidewalk before entering the apartment building. The doorman smiled and nodded, and in no time at all, he was knocking on his girlfriend's door.

 _Wouldn't it be nice if Mom was right and you could just skip this step?_

Sae opened the door, and Akira forgot all about nagging mothers or mental voices. He didn't get to see Sae in a dress often, but nobody pulled off evening wear quite like the director of the SIU. His gaze traveled from her loose hair and diamond earring down to a slit in her dress that showed just enough to give him ideas. He licked his lips. Lots and lots of ideas.

"Evening, Professor." Her eyes crinkled. "Well, at least someone appreciates the dress."

"That's one word for it. You know, suddenly this whole Youth Contribution to Astronomical Knowledge award doesn't seem so important. We could just stay home, celebrate." He ran a hand down her side and enjoyed her shiver. "It'd be way more fun than listening to stuffed shirts for two hours."

She pulled away, but a smile played on her lips. "Enough. This is your night. I get to sit and applaud for you and watch you be introduced to the Vice President of JAXA. Then, we celebrate. But first, I am going to fix your tie. Honestly, I think you mess it up on purpose."

"There was a reason Joker didn't wear a tie. These things are evil." He submitted to her adjustments, watching as Sae smoothed and strained his clothing to her satisfaction. Akira smiled to himself. Who would have imagined the Phantom and the woman who had sent more members of the Diet to jail than anyone before her being so domestic? Next thing he knew, she would be picking sleep out of his eyes like the couple who ran the bookstore in his hometown.

Akira swore under his breath. His mother must have done something to his brain. He had been perfectly content yesterday to take it day by day with Sae for the rest of his life. Anything else would be the worst kind of presumption. Especially when half the country still thought that getting married meant Sae should give up every other part of her life. He'd rather set himself on fire then treat her like that.

Sae frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I-" How did people talk about this kind of thing? Any time marriage was brought up in a manga or a Western movie, it was a joke as the woman suddenly turned into something obsessed with dresses and cakes and bridal showers as the poor guy tried to escape. Curse the unrealistic media for not helping a man who couldn't use his own family as a model. "Mom said something to me. We can talk about it later."

"I see." Her eyes narrowed. "Let me guess: she wants to know why we haven't gotten married yet and wishes we would."

Akira's eyes widened. That was one way to bring it up. "How did you know?"

"She may have mentioned it. More than once." She sighed. "I told her it was our decision, and the world had changed since you were born." She smiled again, rueful this time. "You know, Handa told me that I should get married the day he fired me. Anything to rub it in. As if I could ever be some meek little homemaker."

"And I'd hate for you to be one." He breathed a sigh of relief. "I want to be with you. I don't want that to change. But I'm in grad school and the Metaverse jewels won't last forever and it wouldn't be fair to you and I'd hate for you to be trapped and the only husband I've seen up close is Dad and-"

Easy, Akira. Breathe." Sae put her hands on his shoulders and massaged until he could force his breathing into a semblance of normalcy. "I want to be with you, too. The nice thing about what the Ministry pays me is that I have to care what's on the registry sheet." Her hands traveled down his arms until they were clutching his own. "But it wouldn't be a trap. Marriage doesn't mean to me what it does to you, but it's still an oath. You are the only person on Earth that I can imagine making it to. And you are nothing like your father."

"Thank you." Akira shuddered and squeezed. "When I was a kid in confirmation class, the sister talked all about how marriage was supposed to be like Jesus and the Church, that we were supposed to love the other person enough to die for them. But what I actually see is Ryuji's dad smacking his mom around until she leaves, Hifumi's mom resenting the hell out of her dad, and my parents only getting married because having a bastard is that humiliating." He closed his eyes. "I don't know how to make it be anything else."

"Oh, Akira." Sae enveloped Akira into a hug, and Akira burrowed into her as he had so many times before. He was safe here. "I don't believe in the mystical things, but I believe in you. Don't stay away from this just because people are rotten. What would you do if you weren't afraid of turning out like them?"

If he weren't afraid. If all the shadows that haunted him could be defeated with a little larceny. "I'd have proposed during a fireworks festival a long time ago."

Sae took a deep breath and pulled back. Her hands were shaking. "Then I think we need to have some long conversations over the next few months." Her smile was strange: sad and hopeful and nervous all at once. "For now we celebrate the brilliant young astronomer who happens to be my boyfriend."

They walked out into the cold Tokyo streets, her fingers curled into his. Akira bit his lip. Why was this so hard? He wasn't his father or Sakomoto. But no matter how loudly he insisted that he wanted to spend his life with Sae, he was terrified. Even though she was apparently much more open to the idea than he had thought. _Please, help me._

Sae winced. "I forgot my bag. Give me a minute?"

She was halfway back to the apartment when she fell. One moment she was fine, the next she was crumpled on the sidewalk, arms outstretched. Akira's breath caught in his throat. Her curses and whimpers and the hammering of his hard were the only sound he could hear. Not dead. She wasn't dead. If she could swear, that meant she hadn't broken her neck or anything like that, right. _Please, help her._

He was beside her in a moment. Sae clutched her left leg, which was twisted at an odd angle. "How bad?"

"Sprain," she whispered through gritted teeth. "Help me up."

Akira put his arm around her. A small crowd was gathering: tourists snapping photos on their smart phones, an elderly man who asked if he needed help, children whispering and tugging on their parents' sleeves. He fought down the anxiety and irritation welling in his gut. They wouldn't help Sae for a millisecond, and that was the important thing. "You're sure? We can go to the hospital." Not panicking was easier said than done.

Sae glared at him. "Motorcyclist. I know the difference."

Which didn't help at all. Sae scooted to the edge of the ice and Akira helped her to her feet as best he could under the curious eyes of the crowd. He pulled her close and cursed under his breath at the long-ago detective who had screwed his shoulder up so badly that he couldn't carry Sae inside like he should have.

Sae collapsed onto the couch as soon as they were back in the apartment. She didn't scream or cry, and Akira almost thought it would be easier if she would have. Her harsh breaths seemed to follow him as he went to the kitchen. Sprain, just a sprain. It happened hundreds of times every day. There were adorable little illustrations in children's books about what you were supposed to do. Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation. Simplest thing in the world. Sae was going to be just fine. It wasn't like he was fighting a fake god or anything.

"I got an ice pack." He took off his jacket and knelt before her. Sae had had the presence of mind to pull up her dress. Her ankle seemed already twice its normal size, even as the scientific part of his brain reminded him that was unlikely. Sae hissed. "Give me a sec and I'll get some bandages. You can yell if you need to."

"After all the effort we spent last night trying not to wake the neighbors?" She gritted her teeth in an approximation of a smile. "I'd hate to give them the wrong idea."

That was the moment Akira lost it. Grief and relief and worry and pure joy that this woman was in love with him spilled out. His vision wavered with tears, but laughter erupted all the same. "I love you, Prosecutor."

"I love you, too, Professor." She looked him up and down. "Get me some aspirin and put your jacket back on. You'll be running late as it is."

Oh. He had almost forgotten the ceremony in the commotion of the last few minutes. "Not going."

Sae gave him the same look she had the first time he had told her that Morgana could speak. "You have to go. You're being honored. The vice president of JAXA will be there, and angry if you don't come." She hissed again.

"To hell with him. What if you need something? I remember basic first aid. No weight on that leg for seventy-two hours minimum. You don't even own crutches."

"I can manage for two hours. This is your career." She closed her eyes and her voice was distant in a way even pain couldn't quite explain. "As brilliant as you are, it's still all politics. He won't look favorably on your application when the time comes. You'll be whatever the astronomer equivalent of the attorney stuck prosecuting traffic cases is."

Akira took a deep breath. He had dreamed of working at JAXA for as long as he could remember. He had thought Shido had killed that dream, but then Sae and everyone else who had believed in him and pushed for his exoneration had brought it back. He could imagine some bureaucrat being petty enough to smother it again. He looked down at the swollen ankle. "I'll have Mom apologize for me, and I'll apologize in person after I buy you some crutches."

"And if that's not enough?"

Maybe he should have agonized. He didn't. "Then I work somewhere else. Or I find out what the astronomer version of traffic court is."

A memory: _His father brandished the beer can at him as if it were a weapon. "This is all your fault, boy! If it hadn't been for you and your witch of a mother, I could have made something of myself. That's all a wife and children are: parasites."_

Akira balled his fists. _You're wrong, Dad. We were supposed to be precious to you. Sae is to me. She matters more to me than the stars ever did. And I… I am not you. I can be happy. I can make those promises._

Weight slid from Akira's shoulders. He blinked. The apartment had gone still, the only sound his and Sae's ragged breathing. Sae was watching him with a mixture of affection, exasperation, and concern. "Akira? Are you all right?"

"I am," he said and smiled at her. "Let me get you that aspirin. When you feel better, we have a lot to talk about."

* * *

"I, Akira, take you, Sae, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."


End file.
